Embodiments of the invention relate to a box, in particular a crate or a transport box for the transport of goods, for example food, and a rack for receiving the box for a presentation of the products located therein and to a system and a method for the presentation of products.
Boxes or crates for receiving products are known in conventional technology. Such crates are for example manufactured from plastics and apart from a rectangular floor include opposing end sides or end walls and opposing sidewalls. The height of the corresponding walls is selected to arrange a predetermined number of products within the crate. Such crates are for example used, during the harvest of food, like for example vegetables or fruits, to directly introduce the harvested vegetables or the harvested fruit on the field into the boxes and then provide the filled boxes to the resellers and finally to the points of sale, like for example supermarkets or the like. The boxes may for example be manufactured from plastics, wherein, however, also other materials are possible, like for example wood, metal or the like. The boxes may comprise foldable walls which enables folding down the boxes after emptying the same so that the sidewalls are folded down in the direction of the floor so that for the back transport of the boxes the volume of the same is minimal and thus a large number of boxes may be transported back simultaneously.
In the boxes a carrier or support is located for example in the form of a cardboard box or a plastics plate or the like which is introduced onto the floor of the box before filling same and on which the products rest.
Once the filled box for example reaches the supermarket, the same is arranged as a whole on a corresponding rack which is suitable for receiving the box. The rack may for example receive the box in an inclined way with respect to the footprint of the rack in order to present the product located within the box in an advantageous way for the customer.
If several layers of products are arranged on top of each other in the box, the above mentioned presentation works well as long as only one or only few layers of products have been removed from the box. If, however, ever more layers are removed, the situation may occur that from a point of view of the observer who looks at the box the products which are contained in the last or bottom layers may only hardly be seen or not be seen at all. This is for example the case when the box is arranged in an inclined way and the last layer of products has been removed by half. From an angle of view of a customer or observer the box then seems to be empty due to the inclined arrangement as the remaining products within the box are arranged in an area of the box floor which is shielded from the view of the observer by a wall of the box facing the observer so that the box already seems to be empty.
This situation is undesired as then the products may not be seen and thus remain within the box and finally have to be discarded as they were not sold.
Another disadvantage of this type of presentation is that the more products are removed the emptier the box seems to be which is undesired with respect to an optimal presentation of the products, as customers may for example not want to select products located in the lower part of the box as the same may unjustly be regarded as impaired by products arranged above the same.